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dempson
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
‎10-13-2023 04:28 PM

@Tony030942 wrote:

OK. failure!

1. Deleted Guest account in Fusion. Opened up 2007 iMac and connected via USB3.0 cable, (I have no USB2.0). I created a new Lion Guest iso and installed it. Set up process to Migration Assistant; ensured 2007 iMac Migration Assistant was set ‘To another Mac’ then tried to select source which Guest Lion could not find.

That won't work. "To Another Mac" mode implies "via a network". You cannot run a network over a USB cable from a 2007 iMac.

The Target Disk Mode method I mentioned in my previous message also won't work via USB - the source Mac is the one that needs to be in this mode, and the 2007 iMac does not support USB Target Disk Mode (this feature was introduced for the USB-C ports on the 12-inch MacBook, because those models don't do Thunderbolt).

2. Noting that Migration Assistant asked for the computer to be connected to same network via Ethernet I ditched USB and connected via Ethernet. No source computer found! I checked Ethernet connection and found the source computer confirmed connection as did the 2019 iMac.

As I explained in my previous message, you won't be able to get migration to a VM working via Ethernet (or Wi-Fi) because of limitations in networking imposed by Apple's hypervisor in macOS Big Sur and later. Your best chance of getting this working would be if the newer Mac was running macOS Catalina and you were doing this in VMware Fusion 12.1.2.

I've just done a partial test of this on my setup:

Source computer is a 2009 Mac Mini running macOS 10.11 El Capitan (I don't have any Macs running Lion to test with). Connected to my LAN by Ethernet. Ran Migration Assistant, put it in "To Another Mac" mode.

Target computer is a macOS El Capitan VM running in VMware Fusion 12.1.2 on my 2019 MacBook Pro booted into macOS 10.15 Catalina. Host Mac also connected via Ethernet to my LAN. VM network is configured for Bridged mode. Ran Migration Assistant, put in "From Another Mac" mode.

The VM can see the Mac Mini as a source, I confirmed the random number ID to allow the network connection, and I was able to get as far as the category/folder selection screen (didn't bother to transfer anything as I don't want to do that).

Repeated the test, this time with the VM network in NAT mode which should be similar to what you get with VMware Fusion 13 on a newer macOS. To ensure nothing was remembered, I also restarted the VM . This time, the VM takes longer to show the Mac Mini as a potential source, but fails to connect to it, therefore as I thought, NAT breaks the ability to connect for a networked migration.

3. Created a new Guest Account running Yosamite 10.10.2. Tried Migration Assistant as above with both USB3.0 and Ethernet cables. Source disks could not be found.

Same problems as above. The version of macOS in the guest is not the problem. It is the version of macOS on the host (and as a side effect, limitations imposed on VMware Fusion guest networking).

I do not have a USB2.0 dock but with USB2.0 ports on the 2007 iMac directly connected that should be irrelevent?

The iMac has USB-A ports. It always acts as a USB host. You need a USB 2.0 peripheral (with USB-B or the mini/micro variant) to be able to connect the source to the VM running Lion.

With your attempt in [3] above, Yosemite is also too old to support USB 3.0 so it would also need to be set to USB 2.0 mode.

If you had a VM with El Capitan or later, that is new enough to support USB 3.1, which should allow a migration with your backup drive as a source (not directly from the iMac), but that will run into the problem that the applications you want to run don't work properly in a system newer than Lion.

The USB 3.1 cable should work as it is backwards compatible. My old external LaCie drive connectivity is either Firewire 400 and 800, or USB3.0.

A USB-A to USB-C (3.1) cable between two Macs won't achieve anything - the old Mac with USB-A can only act as a host and does not support USB-C alternate modes or peer-to-peer, the new Mac will also be trying to act as a USB host, so they cannot even see each other.

The LaCie drive's Firewire won't get you anywhere (Firewire and Thunderbolt cannot be bridged to a VM because they are too low-level), USB 3.0 won't work with a macOS VM running Yosemite or earlier because the VM has to be in USB 2.0 mode and Fusion cannot bridge the different USB versions together (unless you have an intervening USB 2.0 hub).

These options occur to me for ways you could migrate your 2007 iMac (or its backup) to a Lion VM.

(a) Try using a USB 2.0 cable with your LaCie drive. If the drive has a Micro-USB 3.0 connector, then you need a cable with a Micro-USB 2.0 plug (missing the "sidecar"). If the drive has a USB-B 3.0 connector, then you need a cable with a USB-B 2.0 plug (missing the "second layer"). If the drive works at all with that cable, then it will be in USB 2.0 mode when plugged into your Fusion hosting Mac, and Fusion should be able to remap it to the guest, and it can be the source for the migration.

(b) Locate a USB 2.0 hub (must have its own power supply), connect the LaCie drive to that and the hub to the Fusion hosting Mac, map it to the guest.

(c) Locate an old enough hard drive which is USB 2.0, clone your 2007 iMac to that, then plug it directly into the Fusion hosting Mac, map it to the guest.

(d) I haven't tried this (any comments from others?), but if you have plenty of disk space on the host Mac, a disk image might be an option. You would need to clone the LaCie drive to a disk image on the Fusion hosting Mac, then connect that disk image to the VM in way that makes it appear to be an attached drive, then Migration/Setup assistant should let you use it as a source to migrate into the VM.

(e) Use VMware Fusion 12 running on Catalina, so you can use bridged networking and do a migration via Ethernet. Steps:

  • Get an licence for Fusion 12 (Player is free for personal use, downgrade from 13 required if you need a paid licence).
  • Install macOS Catalina on a second volume on your Mac (you can add a volume in Disk Utility without mucking around with partitioning, and they will share free space).
  • Boot into the Catalina volume, set it up as required, install VMware Fusion 12. Must be Fusion 12.1.2 or earlier, not 12.2 or later.
  • Create a new Lion VM, ideally on a third volume which is accessible from both Catalina and current macOS systems (this is how my 2019 MacBook Pro is set up).
  • Set networking on the Lion VM to bridged mode.
  • You should then be able to migrate from the 2007 iMac via Ethernet (with the 2007 iMac in “To another Mac” mode) during initial setup of the Lion VM system.
  • Once the migration is complete and you have tested the VM to your satisfaction, you should be able to shut down the VM, boot into your current OS on the host, and run the current VMware Fusion and use the same VM.

 

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